Angélique de Froissy explained

Angélique de Froissy
Comtesse de Ségur
Birth Date:16 November 1700
Birth Place:Paris, France
Full Name:Philippe Angélique de Froissy
Death Place:Palace of Versailles, Kingdom of France
Issue:Philippine Charlotte
Henriette Élisabeth
Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur
Philippe Angelique
Henriette Césarine, baroness de la Crozes
Issue-Link:
  1. Issue
Father:Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Mother:Charlotte Desmares
Burial Place:Church of St. Eustache

Philippe Angélique de Froissy (16 November 1700  - 15 October 1785 in Paris) was an illegitimate daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the nephew and son-in-law of Louis XIV of France. She was comtesse de Ségur by marriage, and a courtier of Louis XV, her cousin.

Biography

Born c. 1700–1702, in Versailles, Angélique was the illegitimate daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and his mistress, Christine Antoinette Charlotte Desmares (1682–1753), a beautiful actress (tragedienne) of the Théâtre-Français. Charlotte Desmares was a niece of Marie Champmeslé and one of the many mistresses of the then Duke of Chartres, around the time their daughter was born. Born in 1702 was another illegitimate child of the duke, Jean Philippe d'Orléans, by a lady-in-waiting, Madame d'Argenton. Angélique's half-brother was legitimised in 1706, whereas Angélique was neither acknowledged nor recognized,[1] although Madame du Prat erroneously states in her memoirs that she was recognized on 22 April 1722, the same day as the Abbé de Saint-Albin, another illegitimate son of the Duke of Orléans by his mistress Florence Pellerin. Shortly upon her birth, Froissy was separated from her mother into the Duke of Chartres' care; she was raised at the Palais-Royal and the Abbey of Saint Denis.

Madame de Ségur belonged to the inner circle of Louis XV's intimates.[2] She is described as "fresh, white, well made, strong and intoxicating".[3]

She married Henri François, comte de Ségur (1689–1751) at Gagny or Paris on 10 or 12 September 1718. He was the son Henri Joseph, comte de Ségur and Claude Élisabeth Binet.

Called le beau Ségur ("the handsome Ségur"), her husband had been "master of the wardrobe" of the Regent (maître de la garderobe du Régent). He lived in an hôtel in Passy, Paris on a beautiful ten-acre property, which later passed to the Duchess of Valentinois and was named Hôtel de Valentinois after her. (The property is famous for being the residence of Benjamin Franklin for nearly ten years.)[4] [5]

Angélique died in Paris 1785 at 83 years of age, and was buried at the Église Saint-Eustache, Paris.

Issue

They had at least five children:

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Letters Palatine, II, 178 and 542
  2. The Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 24
  3. Le Carnet, Volume 19
  4. Bulletin de la Société historique d'Auteuil et de Passy, Volume 4
  5. "Le marquis de Ségur, dit le beau Ségur, occupait un des hôtels les plus importants de Passy, qui s'étendait, avec ses annexes, de la rue de l'Annonciation, n° 9, à l'institution des Frères. Cette belle propriété, d'une contenance de dix arpents, passa après lui à la comtesse de Valentinois et en prit le nom."